Procrastination is an insidious, ugly, convenient catch-all. It enables an
individual to postpone important activities, actions, responsibilities and
concerns indefinitely.Rather than address things right now, you
discover
perfectly rational, reasonable alternatives...

Great alternatives

Some people will tell you that they really want to lose weight or commit
to tai chi classes, but somehow they never make it to class and they don't lose
weight.
Why not:

Work

Family concerns

Time

Money

Tiredness

Every one of these
alternatives is plausible and justifiable. And that is why
procrastination continues...

Why is procrastination a bad thing?

Simple... You may work those necessary extra hours. You may be a
great team player in the family. You may struggle to find time to do
everything you want to do with your life...But, you're still
overweight. You're still unfit. You're still unhealthy. Your
bad knees
and back are just getting worse. You've got headaches from
shoulder tension.
You are still feeling wiped out. You are still
stressed out all the time.

Laziness can mean idleness, apathy, not making an effort... etc but this
is not the real meaning of the word. Laziness is about maintaining the
status quo, staying put, not
changing. It is about habit.
Your habits mean that you continue doing what you are already doing. In
favour of the things you want to do, but don't do. In this sense,
procrastination is a form of laziness.

People are often very busy. But why?And are they really any
more busy than everybody else? If they are, why? Are they saving the
world? Curing cancer?
Or is it a matter of poor time management skills? Taking on more
responsibilities than they can handle?
Being greedy? Seeking validation?
Identification with a self-projected image?

A great procrastination excuse is 'learned
helplessness' - giving the impression that the Universe has somehow
conspired to make it impossible to do the
things you really want to do.
Such as losing weight or getting
fit.After all, if you have no control over the events in your life, how
can you change them?

Everyone makes choices. All the time. A person
chooses to watch football rather than
exercise. They ride on their motorbike in the countryside
rather than cycle. Eat fatty food rather
than healthily.
Nobody is forcing us to make these decisions. We do so all by
ourselves.

Life is all about exchange. You want to eat
some bread? You pay the baker and they give it to you. You have gained
bread and lost money. This is an exchange. Life
is filled with them. Yin/yang.
Every time you choose to do this instead of that, it is also
an exchange.

We live in a culture where people are loathe to commit. They want to
leave their options open in case
something better comes along or so they can
change their mind at the last minute.
If this is how you choose to live, that's
fine. It's your choice after all. But it will never enable you to overcome
procrastination.

An inch of time is an inch of gold: treasure it.
Appreciate its fleeting nature.
Misplaced gold is easily found,
misspent time is lost forever.

Reading books is a good way to learn, but again, it has shortcomings. There
are many books on procrastination. Do the readers change their lives?
Maybe some do... Maybe later, huh?If you read a book on tai chi does that mean that you have a
grasp of the Art? Surely not. Your
body has not learned anything.
And your mind interprets what you read relative
to your existingmemories,
ideas, thoughts and
opinions.

Many people nowadays are significantly overweight. This is
often cited as being the cause of many common health
problems. The overweight individuals talk a lot
about getting healthy, but do nothing.
Essentially they are hoping to continue their current eating habits and lose
weight regardless. Isn't this somewhat deluded and naive? Usually they speak of losing just a few pounds despite been many
stones overweight. This kind of thinking
is exactly why procrastination is a bad thing. It conceals the
truth. It blinds
the individual.
Don't take our word for it, though. Get
on the weighing scales. Look in the mirror. Calculate your BMI. Even
better, use your hands. If you can hold onto fat, then you have concrete
evidence in your hands.

Go to the gym, lift
weights, run
down the street... These activities are great if it's something that
you like to do. What if aren't keen
on the exertion, the sweating and straining?
Procrastination will provide you will a never ending list of reasons to
never get fit. Meanwhile, your quality of life remains the same or (more
likely) slowly deteriorates.

It is quite easy to commit to weekly tai chi
classes and then procrastinate
all over again...
Yes, the hurdle of actually attending class has been climbed. But the
student isn't getting anywhere. How come? The student has settled
into another habit of inaction.
Instead of training at home every day and working steadily through the
syllabus, they have a long list of plausible reasons why they can't
commit to this. Does this sound familiar?
It's procrastination!